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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Armchair BEA: Real Life Bookish Experience

Today they suggested we talk about a positive "real life" book experience. Immediately I thought of when I got to meet my all time favourite author - Sarah Dessen!

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Squee!! Me and Sarah Dessen!

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Sarah Dessen made her first book tour trip up to Canada back in September to promote her latest novel, What Happened to Goodbye. I vowed to attend one of the two appearances in Toronto and one of my best friends agreed to come with me (it wasn't hardship as Dessen is her favourite author too!) On a whim I decided to enter a contest hosted by Penguin. For the life of me I cannot tell you what it was or what I had to do to enter. Cue huge surprise when the email arrived two days prior to the event letting me know I had won! I called my friend and alternated between loud squeals and speechless wonder as I relayed the news. We were going to meet Sarah Dessen! Wheeee!!!!!

I was told that the winners of the contests were to arrive a half hour early and had to check in. So, away we go to where we are supposed to be and we come to the registration area. The guy asks for my name and says something along the lines of "Oh, you're one of the bloggers." Apparently I was modest Kaley that day as I said something like, "I guess so" while my BFF totally had my back and said "Yes, she is!" After the initial surprise, I had to admit it was really awesome to be identified as a blogger by someone outside my circle of friends and family.

Our evening began with a chat with Sarah Dessen. She is amazing. Totally down to earth, funny, and super nice.

In the picture above you can see her talking with us. And no, my friend and I are not in the picture. We're just beyond the left side. Shucks. We didn't make it on her blog.

After we had our group chat, we were all told to line up so we could get our books signed. We were also given a copy of either Along for the Ride or What Happened to Goodbye and a lock and key necklace. I couldn't believe that we actually got the chance to talk to her one on one while she signed our books! Surreal!

After we wrapped up the signing, we went out to our reserved seats to settle in for the interview. It was really interesting and we learned a lot about Sarah Dessen as an author and a person. I really liked learning that This Lullaby was her favourite to write as it's my favourite book.

Overall this was probably my best bookish experience, so far! I hope to have many more experiences in the years to come. Perhaps attending BEA in person next year? Time to start saving!